developer edition

It appears that Bill has finally figured out success of open source software. Microsoft Corp. is giving students free access to its most sophisticated tools for writing software and making media-rich Web sites, a move that intensifies its competition with Adobe Systems Inc. and could challenge open source software’s popularity. Students can download complete working set of compilers (developer tools) including Visual Studio Professional Edition, Expression Studio and XNA Game Studio 2.0. The company will also give away SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition and Windows Server Standard Edition.

The programs are available now to more than 35 million college students in the U.S., Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. DreamSpark will open to high school students around the world starting in the fall and to college students in other countries in the next year.

Giving away Visual Studio, meanwhile, will help ensure a steady stream of new desktop and desktop-Web hybrid applications Microsoft hopes will keep consumers hooked on Windows PCs, even as more programs migrate to the Web.

=> Ap article : Microsoft Giving Away Developer Software

=> Students can see if they’re eligible to download the software at: MSDN website.